Jahmier Black of Bridgewater-Raritan runs the ball against Union City in the North 2, Group 5 semifinals at Basilone Field in Bridgewater on November 7, 2025. (Source: @BRHSPanthers on Twitter)
The Bridgewater-Raritan football team made three straight finals appearances in 2015, 2016 and 2017.
Those are their only trips to the finals, and all three years they ran into a Westfield juggernaut, a Blue Devils’ program that won all three titles up at the Meadowlands, and finished a remarkable 36-0 in that stretch.
But now, they are poised to make some history.
The North Jersey, Section 2, Group 5 finals Friday night – in which the top-seeded Panthers (8-3) will face sixth-seed Bayonne (8-3) – will be their first time ever hosting a sectional final, as they seek the first NJSIAA trophy in program history.
And while those three Bridgewater teams were solid – they also were unbeaten heading into the 2015 title tilt – this one is serious business.
They continue to play in the toughest division, top-to-bottom, in the Big Central Conference, with the likes of Phillipsburg, Hillsborough, Hunterdon Central and Ridge. Their eight wins is the most since their last trip to the finals, in 2019, when they finished 9-3.
Well, 9-3 would make them very happy this year. It would mean they’re sectional champs, and live to play another week in the state semifinals.
And it all could have gone off the rails if things broke another way early on in the season.
It was Week Four, at home against Hunterdon Central. Senior QB Declan Kurdyla – a Rutgers lacrosse commit – went down with a lower leg injury, and initially it looked like it could have ended his season. That also could have derailed the entire team’s season. But further evaluation showed it was not as bad as previously thought, and he was back three weeks later, in a 30-18 loss at Hillsborough.
They split the two games after his injury – with junior Evan Woodring, who coach calls “a stud” – filling in more than ably. And Since Kurdyla’s return, the Panthers are 3-1 – their lone loss in that stretch to North 2, Group 4 finalist Phillipsburg – and playing very well. They’ve outscored their first two playoff opponents 57-13, including a 22-7 semifinal win over a Union City squad that beat them 61-10 in the same round last season.
Even missing all that time, Kurdyla is just eleven yards shy of having thrown for 1,200 this season, while Jahmier Black and Denzel Amoafo have combined out of the backfield for 1,520 yards and 19 touchdowns, along with 547 more and 5 scores on the ground from Kurdyla.
Defensively, seniors Christian Antunes, Jamelle Jones (4 1/2 sacks each) and Miles Tofte (3 1/2 sacks) lead a senior-heavy group that knows what it’s doing.
They’ll do it against a Bayonne team with the same record, which beat Piscataway in the semifinals, 27-13. Against Bayonne, P’way shot itself in the foot with a fumble returned for a touchdown deep in their own end, and another bad snap that killed a comeback drive with just over two minuutes to go.
The Panthers beat the Chiefs 34-27 back in September.
Click below to hear from Bridgewater-Raritan head coach D.J. Catalano:
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